In Depth: China’s Internet Content Kings Struggle to Keep Users Paying

By Guan Cong and Denise Jia

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Long-video streaming platforms such as iQiyi, Tencent Video and Youku have a combined 800 million monthly active users, according to a May report by Quest Mobile.

China’s internet content industry has finally cultivated its first group of paying customers following years of heavy spending and heated competition. Now the challenge is retaining them and expanding the subscriber base.

Tencent Music Entertainment Group, the music streaming unit of social media and gaming giant Tencent Holdings Ltd., claimed more than 100 million paying subscribers in June following a 7-year campaign by China’s largest music streaming platform. For video streaming platform iQiyi, hitting the 100 million mark took four years and more than 60 billion yuan ($8.5 billion) of investment in content production.